Texas Heart Journal | Page 007

Not Everything Needs You Today

I have a lot of things I care about.

A lot.

People I love. Work I believe in. Dreams I still want to build. Ideas that excite me.

Responsibilities that are mine to carry.

Things around the house that need attention.

Messages that need answers.

Plans that need decisions.

And if I'm not careful, I can wake up in the morning and mentally invite every single one of them into the room with me.

Before my feet even hit the floor, everybody and everything gets a seat at the table.

Don't forget this.

You need to handle that.

What are you going to do about this other thing?

You haven't finished that yet.

And remember that idea you had three weeks ago? We should probably build an entire business around it before lunch.

😂

No wonder we're tired.

Sometimes it isn't the amount of work we're doing that exhausts us.

It's the amount of work we're carrying in our heads while we're doing something else.

I've been learning that just because something matters doesn't mean it has to matter right now.

That's different than ignoring it.

It's different than procrastinating.

It's different than pretending a responsibility doesn't exist because I don't feel like dealing with it.

This is about discernment.

What actually belongs to today?

That's the question.

Some things need an answer today.

Answer them.

Some things need a decision.

Make it.

Some things need your hands on them because nobody else can move them forward.

Handle them.

But some things?

They can sit right where they are.

And nothing terrible is going to happen.

The dream isn't going to disappear because you didn't work on it today.

The idea won't suddenly belong to somebody else because you didn't turn it into a plan this afternoon.

The project can remain unfinished for another twenty-four hours.

The laundry will certainly wait for you. It has proven itself remarkably loyal that way. 😂

And sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is recognize:

It matters. But it doesn't belong to today.

There is freedom in that sentence.

Because somewhere along the way, many of us learned to measure how well we're doing by how much we're carrying.

If we can juggle the family, the work, the business, the dream, the house, the friendships, the appointments, everybody else's needs and seventeen tabs open in our brains...

then somehow we're doing life right.

I'm not convinced anymore.

I think sometimes wisdom looks like putting something down before you're forced to drop everything.

I've also learned that every season doesn't have room for every dream.

That's a hard one.

Because when you are a woman with ideas and vision, you can genuinely love several things at the same time.

They can all be good.

They can all make sense.

They can all belong somewhere in your life.

But they don't all have to be built simultaneously.

Some things are for now.

Some are for later.

Some are simply seeds you're supposed to keep until the ground is ready.

And trusting that doesn't mean you're giving up on them.

It means you're learning to respect timing.

Even Jesus didn't answer every demand immediately.

So I'm pretty sure the world can survive if I don't either.

I'm learning to ask myself:

What needs me today?

Not this month.

Not eventually.

Not because someone else thinks I should.

Today.

And then I want to give those things my attention instead of giving twenty things a tiny exhausted piece of me.

Because I don't want to spend my life physically present in one place while mentally trying to live in twelve others.

I want to be where my feet are.

Do today's work.

Love today's people.

Handle today's responsibilities.

Notice today's good things.

And trust that when tomorrow arrives, I'll meet it there.

Maybe you're carrying too much today, too.

Not because all of it isn't important.

Maybe it is.

But importance and urgency are not the same thing.

You don't have to carry every dream, every responsibility, every idea, every expectation and every possibility at the exact same time.

Look around.

Look at what is actually in front of you.

Then ask:

What belongs to today?

Take care of that.

And give yourself permission to leave the rest where it is.

It will still be there when its time comes.

Not everything needs you today.

Tomorrow will have its own work. 🤎

Texas Heart Journal | Page 007